The Motoscope Northern Historic Rally Championship (NHRC) got underway on Sunday (10 February) with the season-opening North Yorkshire-based Riponian Stages Rally.

So far 20 competitors have registered for the NHRC, which is affiliated to the HRCR (Historic Rally Car Register), and four crews took to the stages on Sunday’s opening round. 

Darren Moon and John McNichol took the honours in the NHRC as they finished an impressive eighth overall and first in the historic class and class D5 on the 44-mile Thirsk-based forest gravel event in their Mk2 Ford Escort.

 Carlisle driver Paul Drinkall and Orpington co-driver Roy Brown were the only other crew to make it to the finish line as they came home 25^th overall, second in the historic class and first in the NHRC class C4 in their Porsche 911 and were over three minutes behind Moon/McNichol.

Pickering crew Steve Magson and Geoff Atkinson failed to finish the event and probably had the worst luck of the day as they retired ahead of the penultimate stage with a water pump problem on their Opel Ascona. Prior to their retirement they were 16^th overall. York driver Tom Hewick and Chesterfield co-driver Sam Collis made it to the finish in their Mk2 Ford Escort but were OTL (over time limit) after they took a stage maximum and had a problem in stage 11, Pry Rigg 2. They were 15^th overall before they suffered the issue. 

Meanwhile, Richard Pocklington, managing director of series sponsor Motoscope, and his co-driver Dan Loveday, who also works for Motoscope, did not start the event due to illness. Mike Collins, championship co-ordinator of the NHRC, said: “It’s great that the season’s now started and we have our first winners on the leaderboard. “It’s a shame that only two of the four crews made it round but we’ve had some positive feedback on the event.

We’re now looking forward to the next round, the Robin Hood Historic Trophy, which we hope to have more crews out on as we’ve had lots of interest in the series.” The NHRC has been running for two years and landed its first major title sponsor in the form of Northallerton-based rally equipment and car preparation company Motoscope this year. The 2008 Motoscope NHRC consists of eight rounds across a mix of asphalt and gravel in the north of England and Scottish Borders with the best five scores to count.  

It is open to all cars that comply with the MSA’s requirements for historic rally cars in classes H1, H2 and H3 and only wheels and tyres used in that period are allowed.  In addition to title sponsor Motoscope; Tyres South Shore will also be supporting the series by providing tyres to championship winners on events as well as being available to supply tyres. The next round will be the Worksop-based Robin Hood Historic Trophy on Sunday 9 March. Website at: www.hrcrnorthernchampionship.co.uk.